kiva

Kiva.org partners with Dermalogica on microloans for women

Microloan organization Kiva.org is adding a new set of partners to its roster of do-gooding collaborators. Skin care company Dermalogica, Lifetime Television and Movie Networks, women's clothier Eileen Fisher, and Seventh Generation eco-cleaning products are some of the partners kicking off a campaign that focuses specifically on female entrepreneurs.

As part of its stated goals, the FITE project (Financial Independence Through Entrepreneurship) will attempt to assist 25,000 low-income women around the world with their businesses over the next two years.

The campaign targets corporate sponsors to match or otherwise contribute to what is traditionally a consumer campaign. … Read more

Nonprofits next to test Facebook payment platform

NEW YORK--Four nonprofit organizations will be participating in a test of Facebook's "credits" platform, marketing and outreach director Randi Zuckerberg said on Friday morning at the Social Good Conference presented by social-media blog Mashable.

"I just received confirmation yesterday that...we're going to be reopening up charity gifts in the Gift Shop," said Zuckerberg (who is, yes, the sister of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg). "We are exploring ways for developers to use the Gift Shop to offer...virtual, real, and charity gifts."

This will be rolling out next week with four test … Read more

Business, Ethics, Barcelona: Doing Good When You're Not Doing So Well

I just returned from Barcelona (where every tourist now seems to be tracking the path of Woody Allen's Vicky and Christina...), attending a few sessions of the Doing Good and Doing Well Conference organized by IESE Business School and Net Impact, an organization that connects MBA students interested in social responsibility.

That a leading business school is dedicating an entire student-run conference to the topic of responsible business is remarkable (HEC Paris will do the same soon in May, also in collaboration with Net Impact) but not an isolated phenomenon. In the past few years, several top business schools, … Read more

Microlending site now pays 5 percent

I've long been a fan of microfinance or microlending where a small loan can make a big difference. To date, I've made several small investments via both Microplace.com and Kiva.org. And, in addition to doing good, I'm doing well. Kiva doesn't pay interest but it does make it easy to give gift certificates. Microplace, in the past, paid up to 3 percent interest, but Tuesday it announced a fund that's paying 5 percent.

Have you checked bank and CD rates lately? Five percent is great compared to the rates paid by most banks … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 910: Palm grows a pair

We debate the proper pronunciation of WebOS from Palm. Does it rhyme with Huevos? In any case, Palm has killed the old Palm OS, so may it rest in peace. We also analyze the state of the TV industry. LCD shipments are down, so everybody's getting out of the plasma business? I guess that's why I'm not CEO of an electronics company.

Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 910

Buzz Out Loud chat auction to benefit Kiva http://www.humanety.com/

MS to offer free Windows 7 upgrade to Vista users http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/02/11/238222 … Read more

Daily Tidbits: Alloy adds Takkle to 'Teen' Network

Alloy Media, a company that provides youth-focused online content, announced Wednesday that it has acquired Takkle.com, an online resource and college recruitment site for high school sports. According to the company, Takkle will join the Teen.com Network, which includes a number of youth-focused sites. Takkle provides tools for high school athletes to create player and team profiles, as well as share videos and photos from games. It claims to draw a monthly audience of "1 million athletes, both male and female." The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

iWidgets, a company that allows users to … Read more

Zappos tries robots on for size

Zappos.com, the online retailer with free shipping both ways, has hired little orange robots to carry your shoes.

Actually, the company, which now sells more than just shoes, has just finished outfitting it's Kentucky warehouse with a robotic army to help fill orders, the company supplying the system announced Tuesday.

The Kiva Mobile Fulfillment System from Massachusetts-based Kiva Systems, is basically a team of autonomous, stout, orange robots that sort, store, and move inventory in warehouses. The robots essentially bring the assembly line to the warehouse worker to fill orders more quickly.

Instead of having people walking around … Read more

Microformats (II): The limitations of microloans

In an article in this week's New Yorker, James Surowiecki ("The Wisdom of Crowds") scrutinizes the effectiveness of microloans in bolstering the economies of developing countries. He posits that the hype around micro-finance neglects the small-to-medium sized enterprises (SMEs), the "missing middle" that is vital for a stable economy: "This isn't because microloans don't work; it's because of how they work," so Surowiecki.

The focus on the micropreneur, he argues, is "understandably appealing, but thinking that everyone is, and should be, an entrepreneur leads us to underrate the virtues … Read more

Kiva humanizes microlending to third-world entrepreneurs

Updated at 1:40 p.m. PST with additional comments from Shah.

For $25, you can get four collector's stamps, 25 moving boxes, or a Care Bear cuddle pillow on eBay.

Or you could help Lucía Chávez Rivera, a single mother of three, buy shoes and linens to sell at a market in Peru, and get your money back within the year.

Kiva, a peer-to-peer online microlending nonprofit organization, is changing the dynamics of microfinance by linking people who have money to loan up with entrepreneurs in developing countries who need some capital, all over … Read more